Element Church Insider

I’m a little disappointed in the NFL playoffs so far.  For an armchair fan I was hoping for some good games, but they’ve mostly been blowouts or “in control” for the whole game.  Element Church today was not disappointing though.  Another great week of worship and experiencing the presence of God together.  Here are my ruminations on the day.

—  Not sure on final count, around 12 people acknowledged Christ as their Savior today!  THAT never gets old.

—  Coming into today, I hadn’t planned on doing a response time, but after my final run through of the message I just felt strongly that we should.  I pulled Adam into my office and said “I’m not sure yet, but I feel like we should do a response time.”  After preaching the first service I still didn’t know what to do but felt led to offer salvation to those the Spirit was speaking to.  We had 5 people in first service who acknowledged Christ as Savior and I knew we needed to offer it each service.

—  One of the young men who received Christ in first service found me afterward to shake my hand and said “Thank you SO MUCH for today.  It was exactly what I needed to hear to lead me to Jesus!”  WOW!  I was blown away.

—  After 3rd service was over & the worship center cleared out, I was standing in the back with Adam, both exhausted and spent.  I looked at him and said “Every week, I wonder why God allows us to do this.”  So humbled that God ALLOWS me and CHOSE me to be a part of His work.  I don’t take that for granted.

—  Another solid day in attendance.  Had 190 kids today in e:kidz.  That is a lot of stinkin’ kids.

—  Had The Tour (newcomers lunch) today.  It shattered the record of attendance from any previous month.  I think we had about 60 people there.  CRAZY!  Love offering that and getting a chance to connect and meet with new people, and for them to hear the mission, vision and direction of Element Church.

—  I was VERY nervous and apprehensive coming in to today’s message.  I really struggled formulating what God wanted to say to us from Ephesians 5:1-17.  It is a “no holds barred” passage that Paul just speaks the truth boldly.  It is a challenging and convicting passage.  Even up until I delivered it, I was nervous about it.

—  We continued our series “Facebook:  What’s Your Status?” today, taking on the attitude of “I can’t wait until Friday.”  The big question today was “How do I make the most of every opportunity?”  Here are some excerpts from the sermon.

• At some point we have to stop and say “Wait, today is all I’ve got!”  Psalm 90:12; James 4:13-14
• Sometimes, I look at our lives and think “If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then God’s probably a little embarrassed at a lot of our effort!”  Ephesians 5:1
• Boredom, often times, is much more a spiritual issue than an activity or occupation one.  A life occupied (filled) with love will always find a way to express that love, regardless of where it finds itself or what it finds itself doing, ESPECIALLY when dealing with the love of Christ.
• A full life isn’t always a fun one, but one that is filled with love.  I doubt the cross was very fun, but it was filled with love and therefore it was fulfilling.
• Often times the reason we can’t wait until Friday, is we are pre-occupied with ourselves instead of being occupied with love.
• Did an illustration with Diet Pepsi and Peanut Butter Cups.  The PB cups represented…eh hum…poop.  Why that illustration?  We wouldn’t drink even our most favorite beverage if there was ANY poop in it, yet we expect God to be ok with some in our heart.  I’m not saying there won’t be junk in our heart, I’m just saying I’m tired of us trying to justify it.  Ephesians 5:3-5
• Too many people use their humanity as an excuse NOT to pursue holiness.  God doesn’t expect perfection, but he does command imitation, sadly, I think many people are pursuing neither.
• To be honest, I don’t blame some people for not wanting Jesus.  All around them in their lives are so called “Christians” who live like nothing has changed within them.  If we’re telling people they “NEED” Jesus, but He hasn’t changed anything in me, why would they want Him?
• The church gets all worked up about how dark the world is when the ONLY way that darkness is exposed is if we shine light on it.  AND, light is not contained in picket lines, through a bullhorn or on a piece of stinkin’ poster board.  Light is in MY LIFE and how I live day 2 day.  Jesus did 1000 times more with HOW He lived than with WHAT He said.

— No one is owning up to it, but someone shook up my 2 liter bottle of Diet Pepsi used for my illustration before 2nd service.  When I opened it FOR the illustration it WOULD NOT stop foaming and spraying.  Seemed like an eternity for it to stop.  It all worked out, but I was not happy. 

—  The band did a Kris Allen (American Idol winner) cover song today called “Live Like You’re Dying”.  Did an AWESOME job with a very difficult song.  Was a great segway into my message.

—  Had some more great conversations with people today.  So encouraging to hear what God is doing in peoples lives.

—  My son just walked in and asked me to go play basketball with him.  Sorry, but that trumps ruminations every time.

—  Element Church, I love you and am so proud of you guys!  Couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.

Till the end,

Jeff